Amour There’s something beguiling about this quirky 2002 musical, in which a nobody Parisian civil servant becomes a somebody when he suddenly gains the ability to pass through walls. Maybe it’s the offbeat score, by French composer Michel Legrand (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, among many others); maybe it’s the literate, playful, sung-through libretto, translated from the French by Jeremy Sams (who also wrote the English book). But in this production, a Chicago premiere from Black Button Eyes, the show’s charm is muted by a rough, uneven cast—some overplay the show’s comic moments, while others lack the pipes to bring out the best in Legrand’s ear-pleasing tunes. Only Emily Goldberg, playing the object of the hero’s affection, sang with the power and confidence required to make the score soar. —Jack Helbig
The Heidi Chronicles In Wendy Wasserstein’s 1988 episodic drama, a network of Ivy League baby boomers explore different professional and personal avenues while riding massive cultural shifts from the 60s on. At the center is an art historian who navigates an ambitious life among the upper crust as attitudes toward women with careers evolve, devolve, and evolve again. In a play built on incremental personality changes over time, there’s little character variation between the decades in this staging by the Cuckoo’s Theater Project. Director Sara Carranza makes a proactive effort to broaden the sisterhood themes with color-blind casting, but with so many speeches delivered park-and-blow style, most opportunities for keen revelations get lost. One exception is Rebecca Sparks, who makes a meal out of Heidi’s powerbroker friend, Susan. —Dan Jakes
